


Cliché

by esperink



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/M, Inspired by Music, Pre-Canon, cliche by mxmtoon, i can't draw to save my life so y'all get this, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-11 12:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17447153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esperink/pseuds/esperink
Summary: Chloe thought their relationship was a thing of clichés. The way they met, the way they confessed. The on-and-off part, even.





	Cliché

**Author's Note:**

> I needed a break from the big bang fic, and I’ve been wanting to write a Jake/Chloe fic for a while bc, as they say, write what you want to see, especially if you don't see it. like ever. i haven't seen any fics about these two. I just wanted to sort of explore their relationship. I don't even know if i did this right! They're probably terribly out of character.  
> I can't draw to save my life, so therefore I can't make an animatic, so y'all get this shiz.  
> Also, hey! If you're a regular reader/regularly read MBGSAC/just wanna know where tf i went, check the end notes!

Before Chloe Valentine and Jake Dillinger, there was just Chloe, and just Jake.

Chloe met Jake the summer before Freshman year, after dropping her little sister off at the daycare near the school. She made her way to the correctly numbered classroom and pushed the door open. She was supposed to get her schedule early and help the student committee. Her parents had told her there would be others her age, also helping.

She looked around before stepping inside, meeting the eyes of a boy who was sorting out papers. The boy paused in his sorting papers and raised an eyebrow at her. She blushed but stepped inside.

She nearly tripped over nothing and blushed even more, embarrassed about her apparent lack of walking ability. The boy whose eyes she’d met strolled up to her, tilting his head just slightly. “Hey,” he said.

“Hello,” she managed. She wanted to say more – she wanted ask his name, to start to get to know this boy she didn’t even know existed mere moments before. But she didn’t say another word, her face reddening more. “Hello,” she managed to repeat.

The boy grinned. “My name’s Jake.”

* * *

It wasn’t hard to spend time with Jake – as it turned out, their parents knew each other. They found it easy to talk to each other, somehow. Jake could talk about all the extracurriculars he was planning on joining when school started up and Chloe could complain about the pressures her parents put on her.

Jake would joke about taking her away from them, and Chloe would smile.

Freshman year started up. The first week was boring, mostly icebreakers and syllabi and busy work. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t really complain, figuring it would get less easy later on.

She settled into a simple routine. She met people, trying to make friends. By the end of the first week, she knew Brooke Lohst, and by the end of the second, she knew Madeline Blanc, and by the third, she knew Jenna Rolan. The one she made more of an effort to know was Brooke.

She and Brooke walked to the tree they usually ended up at after school, with Jake usually meeting them. Jake was already there.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hello,” Chloe said. “How was your day?”

“Better now,” Jake said, smiling at her.

Her heart fluttered in her chest and she smiled back at him. She knew it was a cliché response – but she would be lying if she said it didn’t make her day.

* * *

Jake had joined a sports team. She sometimes stayed after school to watch them all practice. Their team had their first game not too long after the first practice, and Jake ensured their win. Chloe felt proud.

She was also feeling jealous. People liked Jake. People always tried to talk to him, and she often was close to being pushed aside, but Jake always made sure to talk to her.

She appreciated that.

She liked him. A lot. She didn’t like how others, like Madeline or Dustin, tried to steal his attention away from her.

Was this what a crush was?

She walked up to him during lunch. “Jake,” she said.

“Chloe?” That wasn’t how she usually greeted him, so he seemed interested.

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

Chloe closed her eyes. Like a band-aid, she told herself. “I have to know,” she said. “But I – I like you, and I need to know if you feel that way about me.”

Her confession was met with only a moments’ silence before she got a reply. “I do,” Jake said. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He rubbed the back of his neck “I was scared of what you might say, actually.”

They both had relieved smile on their faces.

And of course she had to tell Madeline later. How else was she to know to back off?

* * *

They had their first fight when Jake’s teammates didn’t bother to get her name.

“I’m more than just ‘Jake’s girlfriend’,” she had muttered.

Jake didn’t quite understand the problem. It’s not like she and his teammates spent a lot of time together, he reasoned, right?

When she had told her parents about it, they said that it couldn’t be helped if she didn’t do anything to be known. They had their first break-up not too long after that. She was her own person, she’d insisted, and she’d be known with or without him.

She would make sure of it.

And maybe the way she went about it wasn’t the nicest, but she was a teenager, did you honestly expect her to think it through?

She dragged down anyone who got in her way.

She and Jake got back together, only a few weeks after that. And she made sure they would stay together this time.

* * *

The cliché on-and-off relationship.

The type you’d see in movies, or television.

It wasn’t healthy, but Chloe didn’t want it to stop.

It was an off-time, and Madeline had taken her chances with Jake.

“So Jenna Rolan said Madeline told Jake ‘I’ll only have sex with you if you beat me at pool’, and then she lost at pool, deliberately.” Chloe was fuming. It was official, she hated the fake French girl.

“That is so awesome.” Brooke’s voice was one of adoration, almost.

“Brooke!” Chloe hissed.

“I mean, slutty.”

Jenna took this chance to speak up. “And then Madeline was all like—"

“I’m telling the story, Jenna!” Chloe slammed the locker door closed and glared at the other girl.

* * *

Jake was paying attention to Christine. Christine Canigula, self-identified theatre nerd, the thespian who was always lost in her own little world.

Christine Canigula was a name Chloe learned to hate in just a day.

She, of course, had to make sure she learned her place.

“He loves to try new things,” she informed Christine, putting emphasis on her words. “I would hate to think he’s not here… because he’s already bored of you.” She put on a fake smile.

“I…,” Christine said.

“Nice talking to you. Bye!” Chloe stood up and walked away with Brooke and Jenna.

Jake had invited Christine to the Halloween party, but he and Chloe made-up anyway.

* * *

Chloe thought their relationship was a thing of clichés. The way they met, the way they confessed. The on-and-off part, even. How does one actively stop being a cliché?

She knew this cliché in particular wasn’t good or healthy. After the play, she was more aware of that. And she knew something would have to change.

But that could wait for another day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yo! what's up, I'm alive.  
> Some stuff happened, then stress and school, and then more stress, and then i've been trying to work on the be more chill big bang! that fic... is being difficult. but it should be ending beginning of february, so i'll be back by then!  
> i already have some ideas for MBGSAC and squip michael, so getting back into that stuff shouldn't be /too/ hard? i hope? anyway.
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr: esperinkdraws


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